The Carolina Panthers NFL franchise makes its home debut Sunday at Bank of America Stadium, where big plans loom beyond the end zone. Later this year, the Panthers expect to receive the final recommendations on a master plan for upgrading the stadium over the next decade.

Team executives continue to avoid specifics on what the study might entail, or whether taxpayers might be asked to help pay for improvements at the privately held, 74,000-seat stadium. This week, Mayor Anthony Foxx and City Council economic development chair James Mitchell all but committed the city to paying some of the cost.

“We certainly have a vested interest (in the Panthers) as a long-term presence in our city,” Foxx told the Charlotte Business Journal. Asked about assisting the team with a stadium makeover, the mayor added, “In the not-too-distant future, I’m interested in having conversations with the Panthers.”

Mitchell, one of the main supporters for a recently approved $8 million taxpayer contribution toward a new uptown baseball stadium, said precedent all but demands a similar investment in the Panthers. Seat-license fees paid by season-ticket buyers accounted for more than half of the $184 million cost to build the stadium in 1996. The team picked up the rest of the tab, while state and local government contributed $60 million worth of land and improvements to nearby streets and sidewalks.

The Panthers hired sports architecture firm Populous last fall to lead the master-plan study. Wagner Murray Architects of Charlotte and an S.C. firm, McMillan Pazdan Smith, are assisting on the stadium analysis. All three firms have worked on the stadium in past projects. Populous, based in Kansas City, evolved from HOK Sport, lead architect on the uptown NFL stadium.

Danny Morrison, the Panthers’ president, says the stadium remains one of the best in the league. During its 16-year history, the stadium benefited from the team’s $50 million in improvements, ranging from the addition of private clubs on the suite level to new scoreboards and enhanced concessions areas. Still, he says there are some obvious upgrades likely to be included in the upcoming study. The stadium lacks escalators to reach the upper level and, as billion-dollar stadiums have opened in New Jersey and Texas in recent seasons, the ante has been raised on luxury seating, video screens and other technology.

Industry experts say Charlotte got an unexpected gift when the Panthers found a way to pay for the stadium without taxpayer money.

This time around, the franchise deserves public-sector help, says Marc Ganis, president of Chicago consulting firm SportsCorp. Charlotte taxpayers, he says, “should be willing to step up” because of the cachet and benefit the NFL team brings to the region. Beyond that, “there’s also a fairness question which resonates,” an allusion to taxpayer assistance provided for other sports teams and venues in Charlotte and elsewhere in the state.

SportsBusiness Journal, a sister publication, recently reported the Philadelphia Eagles are considering an estimated $60 million to $100 million worth of stadium improvements. Among the focus areas: a makeover of the club areas, field-level suites and new scoreboards. The Eagles opened Lincoln Financial Field in 2003, seven years after Bank of America Stadium debuted. Two years ago, the Kansas City Chiefs completed a $375 million renovation of Arrowhead Stadium, with more than half of the money coming from the public sector. Discussions are under way in Atlanta for a new Falcons stadium that, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, would cost $1.2 billion, including land. The team’s current home, the Georgia Dome, opened in 1992.

HOW SPONSORS ARE REACTING

When the Carolina Panthers huddled up with existing and prospective corporate sponsors this past off-season, the answer almost always came back as a yes. Because of that, the NFL franchise stands poised to increase sponsor revenue after two years of flat sales.

Pepsi, after the expiration of a two-year contract as the team’s official soft drink, opted for a multi-year extension. The cola company first signed with the Panthers in 2003.

In recent years, the team has included bottled water in its contract with Pepsi, a provision that was formerly separate. Beginning with training camp this summer, Pepsi also secured rights to put a company logo patch on the team’s practice jerseys.

Terms weren’t disclosed for Pepsi or any of the other sponsorship agreements. Real estate firm Allen Tate Co. renewed its Panthers pact, while AT&T Inc. increased its investment and involvement by working with the team as both a wireless-phone sponsor and backer of a major WiFi upgrade at the stadium.

AT&T installed 460 WiFi access points in the stadium, with free service for smartphone and tablet users. (The company doesn’t have an exclusive sponsorship among phone companies; Verizon Communications Inc. also has a Panthers deal.)

Revenue lagged for several years among automotive sponsors but has rebounded. Ford and Hyundai return as corporate partners, joined by new recruit Buick/GMC. Tire company Bridgestone Corp. also came aboard for the 2012 season. Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. and CPI Security Systems Inc. also have renewed their deals.

“We’ve been able to make strides in some categories that have been a challenge,” says John Berger, Panthers director of sponsorship sales. “We are excited about the next few years.”

Most recently, the Panthers signed a deal with the S.C. Education Lottery to include the team’s logo on scratch-off tickets.

No major sponsor contracts expire after this season, though the team still is working on re-signing Duke Energy Corp., which currently lacks an agreement.